Police say a 10-year-old Houston boy died after he climbed into a tumble dryer during a game of hide-and-seek.The Harris County Medical Examiner said Monday that the boy was electrocuted. Investigators initially thought he may have suffocated when he climbed into the machine in the laundry room of an apartment complex Friday.Christina Rodriguez identified the child to KTRK-TV as her son, third-grader Fernando Hernandez Jr."I don't know what happened," Rodriguez said. "My boyfriend picked him up and brought him into the house...He was purple and his eyes were open and he was gone."Investigators have said they believe the incident was an accident.Det. Michael Arrington told the Houston Chronicle that other children who were playing with Fernando found him unresponsive in the dryer.Rodriguez said she saw her son 30 minutes before he was found unconscious. She regrets not keeping a closer eye on him."I should have been outside with him, but I was inside cooking. I just want him home," she said.The Chronicle notes that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a bulletin in December about several suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside latch-type dryers. Dryer deaths involving electrocution appear to be rare. Appliance technician Donald Schatte speculated on what could have caused the accident. "Some people don't repair their dryer properly like a door switch goes bad and when they open the dryer, as long as the timer is on, the machine is going to keep running."Schatte said he has never heard of someone being electrocuted by a dryer without there being some sort of fault in the dryer."I haven't," He said. "There are so many safety features. It has to do with something with the wiring."

HOUSTON —

Police say a 10-year-old Houston boy died after he climbed into a tumble dryer during a game of hide-and-seek.

The Harris County Medical Examiner said Monday that the boy was electrocuted. Investigators initially thought he may have suffocated when he climbed into the machine in the laundry room of an apartment complex Friday.